Feed gauge for slitters



Oct. 15, 1929. H. w. WOLFE 1,731,430

FEED GAUGE FOR SLITTERS Filed Nov. 3. 1922 s Sheets-Shet 1 INVENTOR.

mfi mrp+t A TTORNEY;

0a. 15, 1929. I H, JWOLF 4 1,731,480

FEED GAUGE FOR SLITTERS Filed Nbv. s. 1922 SSheets-Sheqt s l/VVE/VTOR.

lei w [Ki /A ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 15, 1929 I a I 1,731,480

PATENT OFFICE HENRY WILLIAM WOLFE, or BALTIMORE,

COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A

MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR T0 AMERICAN CAN CORPORATIONOF NEW JERSEY FEED GAUGE FOR SLITTERS Application filed November This invention relates to slitting machines for operating upon sheet metal, and more particularly to sheet feeding and controlling devices adapted to handle the sheets with such accuracy as to be suitable for operation upon decorated stock, such as lithographed tin plate which is used in the manufacture of can bodies, or the like.

A principal object ofv the invention is the provision of chine which serve not only to accurately gauge, or square the sheet prior to its entry into the slitting elements, but also prevent the sheet from striking said elements with too great force, which in other types of machines frequently causes the sheet to be nicked, with the result that the strips are delivered with bent, or distorted corners;

The invention also relates to a novel type of feeding roll which serves to arrange the sheets in contact with the gauging members at a retarded speed and accommodates itself to the speed of a sheet engaged by the slitting elements.

It is another purpose of the invention to provide, in a machine of this character, a side gauging member which yields under the influence of irregular portions of a sheet, but only after the sheet is engaged by the cutting rollers, and can no longer be deflected.

ft is also one of the features 'of the invention to provide gauging devices which engage the same points on the sheets which have been previously engaged in squaring up the sheet in a lithographin-g press, it being understood that the machine ordinarily operates in conjunction with such a press when decorated stock is being handled.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent as it is better understood from the following description, which, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferred embodiment thereof.

Referring to the drawings,

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a slitting machine in which my invention isembodied;

Fig. 2 is a partial end elevation thereof and is taken substantially on the line 2-2 in Fig. 3;

gauging devices in such a maa, 1922. Serial in. 598,728

Fig. 3 is a detail section taken substantially on the line 3-3 in Fig. 1; I

Fig. 4 is a similar section taken upon the line H in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a sectional detail showing the gauging finger adjusting means and is taken substantially on the line 55 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged section taken lengthwise through the ratchet roller; and

Fi 7 is a cross section thereof, taken substantlally on the line 77 in Fig. 6.

The slitting machine illustrated in the drawings is supported upon a main frame 11, which, in turn, is supported by lower frame parts, or legs 12 resting upon the floor, said main frame having a flat top surface 13 forming a table u on which the metal sheets are fed to the cutting elements.

Said elements are mounted in bearing brackets 14 atone end of the table and comprise co-operating cutting or slitting rollers 15 and 16 carried respectively on shafts 17 and 18 having bearings in said brackets. These rollers are provided in the number desired in spaced relationship, as shown in Fig. 1, and serve to slit the sheets into the desired form of strips when said sheets are delivered thereto. Shafts 17 and 18 are rotated by means of a driving pulley 19 mounted on the lower shaft and gears 21 and 22 mounted respectively on the lower and upper shafts.

It will be understood that it is necessary that the sheets be accurately aligned before entering, the cutters, this being particularly the case when the stock is decorated, to prevent marring and disfiguration of the surfaces. I, therefore, provide gauging devices comprising a receding side gauge 23 pivotally mounted in a bracket 24, which is adjust-- ably secured to the table 13 by means of bolts 25 extending through slots 26 in said bracket. Said gauge is in the form of a lever having a sheet-engaging portion 27 forwardly of the pivot. point 28, said sheet-engagin portion being normally forced outwardly y a coil spring 29.

Front gauging fingers 31 are provided to engage the forward edge of the sheet, these fingers, in the present instance, being two in number and being mounted on'a rock shaft 32 which has bearings on the end brackets 14. Upon said shaft, are secured adjustable block cams 33, held in place by means of a cap screw 34 and having a front guideway 35 in which an upper vertical part 36 of the fingers 31 is adjustably secured by means of aset screw '37 and clamping screws 38 and 39. With this construction, the fingers may be adjusted vertically with respect to the plane of the table andalso lengthwise of the shaft 32.

Said fingers are locked in place by means of locking levers, or fingers 41, which are pivotally secured at 42 in brackets 43 adjustably secured by means of screws 44 and 45 in a slotted extension 46 of a safety guard 47. Said fingers 41 are disposed rearwardly of the gauging fingers 3'1 and have their upper ends yieldingly engaging the block cam 33, being held in contact therewith by a coil spring 48. When in the position shown in Fig. 3, said locking fingers serve to prevent rotation of the rock shaft 32 and it is thus impossible to lift the gauge fingers 31 until said locking fingers are movedfrom locking engagement with the block cam 33, it being noted that the upper end of the fingers 41, engaged in slots 49, normally holds said block cam and rock shaft against rotation. When a sheet approaches the front gauging devices, said locking fingers 41, which are provided for each gauging finger 31, serve to prevent lifting of said gauging fingers until the sheet is aligned or squared, since it is necessary that both locking fingers be released to permit rotation of the shaft 32.

In addition to the front gauging fingers 31 and the side gauge 23, I provide further means for squaring the sheets and controlling them in such manner as to prevent damage thereto and cause accurate feeding of them into the cutters. This means comprises a ratchet roller 51, which is mounted on a secondary shaft 52 having hearings in a bracket 53 integral with the safety guard 47 said shaft being rotated by means of a gear 54 on the shaft 18 and a pinion 55 on the said shaft 52. By means of this gearing, the shaft 52 is driven at a slower speed than the cutter shafts 17 and 18. An idle roll 56 is mounted in a bracket 57 secured to the frame 11 and cooperates with the roll 51 to draw the sheets up to proper position prior to their entry into the slitting rolls. 7

A practical difficulty has been experienced with machines of this general character, by reason of the decorated sheets being caused to strike the slitting rolls with such force as to cause the sheet to be nicked, or otherwise damaged, which resulted in imperfectstrips, having bent-up or distorted corners. The apparatus which I provide obviates this difficulty, sincethe roll 51 isrotated at a slower speed than the slitting rolls and. retards the movement of the sheet, as well as assists in accurately positioning it.

A sheet advancing across the'table is fed under the safety guard 47, which is secured at opposite ends by means of bolts 58 and 59, and upon said sheet being engaged between the idle roll 56 and the driven roll 51', which latter is provided with a peripheral rubber band or collar 61, it is advanced at a safe rate of speed by said rolls. It will be noted that said ratchet roll is disposed toward one side of the machine and, consequently, engages one side only of the advancing sheet, serving to draw it up to accurately aligned position. The sheet has a tendency to move sidewise during the squaring up movement and, for this reason, the idle roll 56 is some what elongated, as shown in Fig. 2, and the ratchet roll 51 is permitted to have a limited side play with the sheet, by endwise move ment of the shaft 52 which is loose for the purpose, limited in one direction by the roll 51 and in the other by a collar 62 on the end of the shaft, said parts 51 and 62 contacting with and being arrested by the intermediate fixed bearing element (Fig. 2). To permit said shaft and roll to be readily removed, I provide a T-slot connection 63 between sections of the shaft, as shown at the left in Fig. .2. 3

After the sheet has been squared and is picked up by the cutting rollers 15 and 16, its linear speed is increased to the peripheral speed of said rollers and, in this connection, attention is called to the internal construction of the ratchet roll 51, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Said roll comprises a ratchet sleeve 64 secured to the shaft and a collar 65 positioned in a cutaway portion of said sleeve, a nut 66 being provided to'hold these partsin assembled relationship. The collar 65 is 'cut away at one side at 67 and beneath this cutaway portion, the sleeve 64 is provided with wedge surfaces 68 beveled outwardly from stops 69 toward the collar 65'.

In the space between said sleeve and collar, there are provided a number of small rollers 71, which are adapted to ride outwardly upon the surfaces 68 to wedgingly lock said sleeve and collar together. It will be noted that this action is. accomplished when the shaft 52 is rotated in OOHDtBDClOCkWlSG direction, viewing Fig. 7. The collar 65 is thus rotated at the speed of the shaft 52 until the sheet is engaged by the cutting rollers 15 and 16. When the linear speed of said sheet is 7 increased by the action of the rollers 15 and 16, the frictional engagement thereof with the rubber band 61 in the collar 65 will rotate said collar at greater speed than that imparted by the shaft 52, causing the rollers 71 to be moved back out of wedging engagement with said collar, thus permitting the collar to accommodate its speed to that of the rollers 15 and 16. In this manner, the sheet is accu- 'rately controlled and gauged until it is fed into the cutters and thereafter is guided by the action of said cutters with such firmness that deflection from the desired path of travel is impossible.

As heretofore stated, the side gauge 23 is of the receding type, but it should be noted that the spring 29 is of sufiicient strength to prevent yielding of the gauging lever until the sheet has passed the front gauging devices and is picked up by the cutting rollers. Thereafter said lever will yield when acted upon by irregular portions of the sheet to permit the same to pass, the action of the rollers being sufliciently powerful to overcome the tension of the spring 29, and the sheet being at this time so firmly held that its path of travel will not be altered.

At the end of the table, adjacent the ganging fingers 31, extension members 7 2 are provided and said fingers 31 are provided at their lower ends with rolls 73, engageable by the advancing sheet to lift the fingers when released by the lockin devices 41.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantages will be understood from the foregoing description and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the form hereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. In a sheet metal slitting machine, the combination of a frame having an upper sheet supporting surface, slitting rolls adapted to operate upon sheets fed across said surface, and gauging means including feeding rolls operable at less speed than the slitting rolls prior to engagement of a sheet b the latter and thereafter movable at the same speed.

2. In a sheet metal slitting machine, the

combination of a frame having an upper sheet supporting surface, slitting rolls adapted to operate upon sheets fed across said surface, and gauging means including a ratchet roller having a normal peripheral speed slower than that of the slitting rolls whereby the sheet is retarded and squared prior to entry into the latter, said ratchet roller being adapted to thereafter accommodate its speed to that of said slitting rolls.

3. In a sheet metal slitting machine, the combination of a frame having an upper sheet supporting surface, slitting rolls adapted to operate upon sheets fed across said surface, and gauging means including a ratchet roller having a normal peripheral speed slower than that of the slitting rolls whereby the sheet is retarded and squared prior to entry into the latter, said ratchet roller comprising an outer sheet engaging cylinder and a driven ratchet device normally engaging and driving said cylinder when in motion, but adapted to release it when the linear speed of the sheet exceeds the peripheral speed of the cylinder. 4. In a sheet metal slitting machine, the combination of a frame having an upper'sheet supporting surface, slitting rolls adapted to operate upon sheets fed across said surface, and gauging means including a ratchet roller having a normal peripheral speed slower than that of the slitting rolls whereby the sheet is retarded and squared prior to entry into the latter, said ratchet comprising an outer cylinder and an inner driven ratchet member having Wedge surfaces, and wcdging devices movable between said surfaces and the cylinder and serving to lock said cylinder to said member when the latter is driven and permit,

free rotation thereof under influence of the sheet when the latter is engaged by said slitting rolls.

5. In a sheet metal slitting machine, the combination of a frame having an upper sheet supporting surface, slitting rolls adapted to operate upon sheets fed across said surface, and gauging means comprising a side gauge, a plurality of front gauges and feeding rolls adapted to arrange a sheet in contact with.

said gauges and operable at slower speed than that of the slitting rolls.

6. In a sheet metal slitting machine, the combination of a frame having an upper sheet supporting surface, slitting rolls adapted to operate upon sheets fed across said surface, and gauging means comprising a side gauge, a plurality of front gauges, and feeding rolls adapted to arrange a sheet in contact with said gauges and operable at slower speed than that of the slitting rolls, said side gauge being adapted to recede under the action of irregular sheet portions after the sheet has been engaged by said slitting rolls.

7. In a sheet metal slitting machine, the combination of a frame having an upper sheet supporting surface, slitting rolls adapted to operate upon sheets fed across said surface, and gauging means comprising a side gauge, a plurality of front gauging fingers, means for locking said fingers and adapted to release them only when acted upon by an aligned sheet,"and means having a retarding action for arranging a sheet in contact with said slitting elements, and said front fingers being releasable only by an aligned sheet, said side gauging devices having a yielding and receding action if pressed edgewise by the sheet after engagement of the sheet by the slitting elements.

'9. Ina sheet metal slitting machine, the combination of slitting elements, a support upon which sheets are fed to said elements,

and means for squaring the sheets upon said support, said means comprising a plurality of aligned gauging members at the front of the support, which members are movable forwardly with a gauged sheet, a third gauging member at the side of the support, and means for arranging a sheet in contact with said members, said means being also adapted to advance the sheets to the slitting elements with a retarded action.

10. In a sheet metal slitting machine, the combination of slitting elements, a support upon which sheets are fed to said elements, and means for squaring the sheets upon said support, said means comprising aligned front gauging devices and a side gauging device maintaining a fixed position to cooperate with said ifront devices while a sheet is being squared and being adapted to reeede when acted upon by irregular sheet portions after the sheet has been engaged by the slitting elements.

11. In a sheet metal slitting machine, the combination of slitting rolls, a table upon which the sheets rest directly and are moved to said rolls, continuously moving means comprising a ratchet roll arranged in advance of the rolls for advancing the sheets with. a continuous movement and less linear speed than that of the rolls prior to their striking the rolls, and driving mechanism for said continuously moving means, the latter being loose relative to the driving mechanism for movement faster than that imparted by said driving mechanism.

12. In a sheet metal slitting machine, the combination of slitting rollers, a table upon which the sheets are advanced to said rollers, and means comprising a ratchet roll and an idle roll disposed in advance of the slitting rollers and operable at reduced speed to prevent the sheets from striking said slitting rollers with excessive force, said ratchet roll being movable at the speed of thesheet after the latter is engaged by the slitting rollers.

13. In a sheet metal slitting machine, the combination of slitting rollers, a table upon i which the sheets are advanced to said rollers,

and means comprising feeding and gang ing rolls disposed in advance of the slitting rollers and operable at reduced speed to align the sheets and lessen the force with which they are delivered to said slitting rollers and driving mechanism for said rolls, the latter being loose relative to the driving mechanism for movement faster than that imparted by said driving mechanism.

14;. In a sheet metal slitting machine, the combination of slitting rollers, a table upon which the sheets are advanced to. said rollers,

front and. side gauging members adapted to square a sheet prior to its reaching the slitting rollers, and supplementary feeding rolls operable at relatively low speedand disposed in advance of said slitting rollers, said feeding rolls serving to retard the movement of a sheet prior to its delivery to said slitting rolls.

15. In a sheet metal slitting machine, the combination of slitting rollers, a table upon which the sheets are advanced to said rollers, front and side gauging members adapted to square a sheet prior to its reaching the slitting rollers, and supplementary feeding rolls operable at relatively low speed-and disposed in advance of said slitting rollers, said feeding rolls serving to retard the movement of a sheet prior to its delivery to said slitting rolls and having limited side play permitting sidewise movement in contact with a sheet While the latter is being gauged.

16. A slitting machine adapted to operate upon lithographed sheet metal stock, comprising slitting elements, a table upon which. the sheets are advanced to said elements, gauging members adapted to engage the points on the edges of the sheet previously and similarly engaged in thelithographing of the advancing sheets and arranging t em in contact with said gaugin members.

HENRY WILLIXM WOLFE.

press, and gauging rolls retarding the s )eed 

